Unrest
Synopsis
When Harvard PhD student Jennifer Brea is struck down at 28 by a fever that leaves her bedridden, doctors tell her it’s “all in her head.” Determined to live, she sets out on a virtual journey to document her story and that of four other families fighting a disease medicine forgot.
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The Filmmakers
Jennifer Brea Director
Jennifer Brea is an independent documentary filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She has an A.B. from Princeton University and was a Ph.D student at Harvard until a sudden illness left her bedridden. In the aftermath, she rediscovered her first love, film. She is a Sundance Fellow and has been supported by the Sundance Edit & Story Lab, Sundance Catalyst Forum, IFP's Filmmaker Lab, and the Fledgling Lab. This is her film debut.
Lindsey Dryden Producer
Lindsey Dryden is an award-winning producer and director who began making creative documentaries with a focus on the body and the arts, after starting her career in British TV docs (BBC, Channel 4, History Channel). Her films, including LOST AND SOUND and CLOSE YOUR EYES AND LOOK AT ME, have shown at 30+ festivals worldwide, including SXSW, True/False, Sheffield Doc/Fest and Film Society of Lincoln Center’s ‘Art Of The Real’. She has been supported by IFP, IDFA DocLab Academy and Hot Docs Forum. Lindsey is a regular mentor at festivals, a film lecturer, a recent Filmmaker-In-Residence at Jacob Burns Film Center in NY, and a proud member of the Queer Producers Collective.
Patricia E. Gillespie Producer
Patricia E. Gillespie is a Wasserman award-winning filmmaker and Sundance Fellow based in New York City. In addition to her work on UNREST, Patricia also served as Line Producer on Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis’ WHOSE STREETS, and is currently the Creator/Director/EP of AMERICAN MONSTER, a verite true crime series produced in concert with Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets.
Deborah Hoffman Executive Producer & Creative Advisor
Deborah Hoffmann received an Academy Award nomination in 1995 for her documentary, COMPLAINTS OF A DUTIFUL DAUGHTER and again for LONG NIGHT'S JOURNEY INTO DAY in 2000. She is widely acclaimed as editor of such classic documentaries as the Oscar winning THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK, ETHNIC NOTIONS, and MULLHOLLAND'S DREAM. She has received two National Emmys, a Peabody, a DuPont Columbia Award, and a Rockefeller Fellowship. Deborah has been a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism since 2000. She has served on juries for the Sundance, San Francisco and Mill Valley Film Festivals and on the Independent Spirit Awards, and Gotham Awards. She is a member of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Festivals & Awards
Sundance Film Festival
2017
Winner - U.S. Documentary Special Jury Prize: Editing
SXSW TV & Film Festival
2017
Official Selection
News & Documentary Emmy Awards
2019
Nominee - Outstanding Editing: Documentary and Long Form
Cinema Eye Honors
2018
Winner - The Unforgettables - Jen Brea
Academy Awards
2017
Shortlist
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
2017
Official Selection
CPH:DOX
2017
Official Selection
AFI DOCS
2017
Official Selection
Sheffield DocFest
2017
Winner - Illuminate Award
Reviews
“Riveting...Equal parts medical mystery, science lesson, political advocacy primer and even a love story.”
-San Francisco Chronicle
“Remarkably intimate, deeply edifying and a stirring call to action.”
-Los Angeles Times
“Bracingly inventive and moving.”
-The Guardian